Conan (2007) Critic Reviews

An absolutely storming adventure, and I will definitely recommend it to any fans of the genre; it has been one of the most enjoyable titles of its type that I have played in a long time. There are a few flaws that stop it from being truly great, but it does what it sets out to do - provide a few hours of happy blood-lust, carving a path of destruction through hordes of enemies.

At the end of the day, Conan is a fantastically fun game, that doesn't take itself too serious and knows what kind of creature it is -- something that a good deal of games nowadays could benefit from.

All said, Conan the game, like the titular barbarian himself, is very one dimensional. It’s great for getting in a little much needed smashing time, and maybe for checking out some computer generated boobage, but after a run through or three of the story mode it’s pretty much spent.

For every minor flaw though, Conan redeems itself with cool little touches; we love pulling health-draining arrows from our chests and torching village huts to reveal orb-filled treasure chests.

I had a great time playing through it but with no online mode there is little reason to come back for more, other than the blood and breasts.

While it’s not exactly an original formula, Conan’s gory action and light character-building elements should be just enough to keep most gamers entertained.

Conan appeared on the Xbox 360 out of nowhere like a thief in the night, and like its titular hero, it is brutal, powerful, and very rough around the edges.

Derivative as it is, Conan is still a viscerally satisfying adventure.

Fans of the Conan books will likely be disappointed by the disjointed narrative and surprisingly dispassionate vocal performances, and most gamers will see the button-tapping mini-games and bare-breasted maidens as the hollow window-dressing they are, but Conan is still an agreeable diversion despite its obvious faults.

It looks good but not great, feels good but not great, has some very cool moments before running into duller moments right around the corner.

Bloody good fun, but despite the solid combat a lack of variety pulls it under "God of War's" ilk.

Conan may at times be awkward and slightly derivative, but when compared to the fun that is available within, these shortcomings pale in comparison.

Purchased moves and learned skills help to keep the hack-and-slash of Conan fresher. Suspect physics and hit detection system. Camera control please.

The game is not particularly lengthy and seems to average in at what most games do these days, with about a 5-6 hour campaign, obviously this will likely increase with knocking the difficulty up to Hard or the more deadly King difficulty mode.

Conan's biggest strength lies in its ability to pull you into the mythos that is Conan. When you're playing it, you really feel like you're controlling an unstoppable bloodthirsty warrior who just wants power, riches and women. Awesome.

No matter how advanced the combo system, that constant button-pounding action begins to grate, especially since there's no co-op mode (which would have rocked). But it's testament to Conan's spark that the sheer fun of the execution moves and combos will pull you through the bad times.

For what its worth, Conan is a rather intense and short game. Fighting through all the hordes and spending time backtracking only amounted to about seven hours of gameplay, and with no multiplayer or secrets to unlock, that’s quite a disappointment in terms of replay.

Conan is fun to play and it’s gory, but to be honest it‘s not worth its £40 RRP, maybe £25. I was expecting Conan to be poor, but it was nice to get a shock of playing a good title.

Sure, it has annoying glitches, the cheap artificial intelligence will piss you off and Sony's God of War plays ten times better, but you don't play Conan for enlightenment or for a lesson in quality game design. You play because you enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and because sometimes, it feels good to rip a fake person's arms off.

If your blood pressure can withstand the beatings that may seem unfair, there's a lot to like about Conan's combat system and adventure.